Hi All,My friend and I are both "seasoned" flightsimmers of many years.However, we have always been dependent on using "FS Navigator" for flying and navigating. My friend has now installed FSX on his new system, and was horrified to find that FS Nav is no longer available !We would like to know how to use the GPS properly in FSX (and in my case FS2004). We have followed some user guides that fellow flightsimmers have created, and with a little success. But we notice that all approaches we make to whichever airport, seem to end up with the GPS directing us to overfly the airport, then follow a series of figure 8 routings to land. Our personal experience of real life flights into some of the airports we use in FSX, would tell us that these approaches are totally incorrect !Can anyone tell us in laymans terms please !!...how to add a "STAR" or "SID" and incorporate it in the GPS flightplan in FSX ?DIRECT replies would be preferable please to [email protected] in advance !DerekNorthwest UK

Hi Derek, This is the long version.Assuming you know how to add a flight plan in FSX, Go to (http://www.airnav.com/airport/KLAX) example; look towards bottom, it gives all SID and STARS for KLAX. Download the chart for BASET THREE, and look to the points that make up the procedure. Each point will have a LAT/LON coordinate these you will plug into FSX flight planner. Start a flight lets say from KDEN to KLAX, use direct for this purpose, make sure all tabs at top are green and pull the red line to anywhere on the map. It will make a waypoint,WPT1 give it a name such as EMMY which is part of the STAR. Change the LAT/LON to the coordinates list on EMMY ( N34

Also, Flight Sim Commander can be used.Has SID/STARS ... updatable from Navigraph also.Without purchasing it can be run for 30 minutes for your testing.Then it shuts down.Then you can start it again for another 30 minutes .. as many times as you need to.

FSX

Hi Ralph,Thanks for the info. I will give what you suggest a try. Anyone ELSE got any suggestions ? Thanks !Derek

Also, Flight Sim Commander can be used.Has SID/STARS ... updatable from Navigraph also.Without purchasing it can be run for 30 minutes for your testing.Then it shuts down.Then you can start it again for another 30 minutes .. as many times as you need to.

Hi,Yup...due to not being able to use FS Navigator in FSX, my friend purchased FS Commander, which admittedly is VERY indepth, and he is unlikely to use the majority of its features. But before getting the hang of FS Commander, he wanted to learn about using the GPS. (dont ask me why !). Do you HAVE to activate ATC in FSX to fly a GPS flightplan then ? All he wants is to be able to fly a reasonably true to life flight routing between airports, and to perform true to life SIDS and STARS ! Wish there was a way of inserting a pre designed STAR into FSX ?ThanksDerek

FSX

Hi Ralph,Thanks for the info. I will give what you suggest a try. Anyone ELSE got any suggestions ? Thanks !DerekHi,Yup...due to not being able to use FS Navigator in FSX, my friend purchased FS Commander, which admittedly is VERY indepth, and he is unlikely to use the majority of its features. But before getting the hang of FS Commander, he wanted to learn about using the GPS. (dont ask me why !). Do you HAVE to activate ATC in FSX to fly a GPS flightplan then ? All he wants is to be able to fly a reasonably true to life flight routing between airports, and to perform true to life SIDS and STARS ! Wish there was a way of inserting a pre designed STAR into FSX ?ThanksDerekAgain thanks very much...the more suggestions I get, the more I can decide which is the easiest to set up for him !ThanksDerek

Hi Derek,ATC doesn't have to be activated at all any time unless you just want to fly with it. Some aircraft have the SIDS and STARS programmed in the FMC. LVL-D 767, Wilco EMB Jets, are just two that I use.

i use fsbuild and radar contact.fsbuild has many (most?) sids and stars in it. when you build your flight plan and load it into fsx it basically is automating the process that rrman2002 described in his post. it's much quicker and easier than adding the star waypoints by hand. for instance, flying into ksfo from the east i usually end up using the MOD3 star onto the 28s. i can just enter "MOD3" at the end of my flightplan, but when i build it, the actual waypoints include all the steps (INOYE, KYLLA, TROSE, MOD, GROAN, CEDES, OOMEN, MEHTA) added correctly in order and with no mucking about looking up their latitude and longitude etc. by doing this the atc will continue to want you to fly the star as if you are just following your flight plan until you reach a certain threshold of distance from the airport at which point they will start to vector you. i dont know about default ATC but with radar contact this is around 40nm when they have you contact the approach frequency. when they start to try and vector me i'll just request an IAP approach and they will basically leave me alone while i fly the rest of the waypoints. radar contact's vectors are usually much more sensible than the default ATC was so a lot of time's i'll follow the vectors they give anyway, if the star was chosen correctly for the currently active runway a lot of times it is basically just getting vectored to base and final leg anyway, plus you can do things like request a short final or whatever.cheers,-andy crosby

Radar Contact is the way to go. Very powerful and flexible if you put the effort into learning how to use it properly.I didn't know the new planning program was available. Last time I checked there was no download available.

Everyone who knows that the default GPS has many STAR procedures built in raise your hands now......hmm, no one? Has anyone ever pressed the PROC button on the GPS? No? Why not?Comprehensive instructions for using the default GPS are in the Learning Center, cleverly concealed with the silly name: Using the GPS.....\FSWeb\LearningCenter\Navigation\UsingTheGPS.htm

For the first few legs ATC lets me fly the planned route, but when approaching Madrid, ATC directs always to it

I still use the freeware fsbuild 1.4.3. It has a bug on how it outputs lat/long of waypoints, but even at that it will create FS format plans with included sid or star waypoints.If you use the ATC function it will want to vector you once you get within 70 miles or so, but like Bill mentioned many times if you select an approach transition in the GPS you can request it from ATC and ATC will clear you direct to the entry point for the transition. Though I suppose IRL it is unlikely ATC will let you fly an entire procedure if there is any traffic at all.scott s..